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1,000 Oil Sands Workers Suddenly Laid Off

March 27, 2015

One thousand construction workers at Husky Energy's Sunrise oil sands project in Alberta, Canada were let go with less than a 24-hour notice by contractor Saipem Canada. The notice told workers to "demobilize off the project site" that same morning.

During the past 30 months, Saipem Canada had up to 1,800 crew members working on the project but had been letting workers go as the completion date approached.

The workers had expected their jobs would end between May and August; most were working on a 14-day-on, seven-day-off rotation. Workers laid off included scaffolders, pipefitters, welders, electricians, ironworkers, millwrights, insulators, operators, laborers and more.